Tuesday, December 25, 2012

This was our holiday card this year & thought I'd share with those I couldn't get one to personally! May your holiday be filled with love, laughter and the joy of friends & family!

We had snow on Christmas Eve for the first time in a LONG time here in Virginia! The teens were excited beause it hasn't snowed on Christmas since they were babies. I'm happy it was only 2 inches & will be gone by Wednesday...although it does look pretty for pictures LOL!

My last Christmas card of the season...this one I made for my daughter. When I saw these cute Wild Rose Studio stamps and this cute Bella elephant I HAD to have it. Thanks to all my Facebook friends for helping me find one cuz' this cutie was out of stock everywhere! You can find a whole selection of these Wild Rose cuties at Stamp And Create! I colored her up on Kraft cs with Copics although the white elements were done with my Neocolor pastel wax crayons. Then I added Stickles to the white elements, the corners were done with a La La Land die (Filigree Corner Die), gingham ribbon bow and button...sentiment from PTI!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Happy Thursday everyone! Yikes just a few more days before Christmas & I'm ecstatic to say I'm DONE...DONE..DONE! I even have 90% of my holiday menu planned & bought except the fresh items. I just have to start wrapping...James & I always do a marathon wrapping night while watching movies and eating yummy snacks since the kids were babies. Now that they are older I make sure everything is boxed up and covered up while we are wrapping...since they want to watch the movies with us. Course they want to do EVERYTHING with us nowadays which I think is hilarious since they are teens...instead both them AND their friends are always here, around us, going somewhere with us LOL. So James and I do not have much time alone anymore but that's ok...Alexa will be off to college in another year (YIKES...sniff sniff) so I'm trying to have as much quality family time as I can. I cannot believe in a few short months I will have a 17 yr old daughter & a 15 yr old son..my how the time does fly. But we have always put family FIRST...we call ourselves the Dean 4-Pack lol and we try to spend as much time together as we can, having fun, hanging out and making memories. In light of what happened in CT...awful, tragic & heartbreaking..it made me reflect a bit on things. Do we spend enough time with the kids, do we tell them we love them, do we show them we love them? And the answer to all those questions was YES, at the end of the day I know that the kids KNOW how we feel and they know they are #1 with us...I don't want to have any regrets about that ever...because you truly never know when it may be your last time with them. So even when they drive me nutters...and trust me they push my buttons like no one's bizness...I still love them, I let them know and they know it too. I'm not a push-over parent, I'm their mom FIRST, friend second, I practice a lot of tough love because the world I'm sending them into is tough and my goal is to raise good, happy, healthy, loving & vibrant citizens for this world first and foremost. But no matter what else I accomplish on this earth...nothing matters to me more than my kids saying they had a great life, great parents and lots of love...that's all I want. And may god forbid that NOTHING happens to them like what happened to those beautiful children/angels in CT or to anyone else...that is my holiday wish. I cannot imagine the grief, pain and sorrow of those parents and everyday I'm sending up a prayer for them that they may know peace, however it may come to them at some point..the road for them is going to be rough this we all know. And I pray that the US and the world come to some greater solution to change these things so they never happen again..wishful thinking...but everything begins with one..one person, one belief, one hope, and one change at a time.

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Don't forget the CMC HOLIDAY BASH is on-going thru Jan 4th! So you have plenty of time to join all the challenges and win some fantastic prizes. GO HERE to see more details and YES ANYONE can join in the fun!!!

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I don't have a project to share today but I will tomorrow for you all, so check back in for that!

But I wanted to dedicate my blog post today to my

CMC DT gals.

These ladies are the BESTEST...I say that with all my heart & sincerity. They are lovely, super talented, my friends, supportive, kind, funny and just all around wonderful ladies. I am so proud to have each of them on my team and to call them my friends as well. They always create such beautiful work for all the challenges and support me along the way as well. They also like to surprise me with special gifts and blog hops...that make me CRY ugh LOL...but I feel so blessed and lucky to have them in my life. To me I TRULY DO have the best DT in the world!!

And I've been lucky enough in my travels to meet most of my DT gals. I'll see Sandie again at CHA as she travels from Ireland each year to work at the show...she is also very dry & sarcastic like me so we are quite a pair. And Andi is my Canadian "trouble buddy" LOL, if I'm up in Canada then we are usually doing something up there together that involves laughing and good times. Tina is my BM...I mean BFF and keeps me in line when I need it and is always just a TEXT away..if you've been to a CMC chat you know we can bicker like no one's bizness, but she's like my family LOL. Marie & Pat are too beautiful ladies that have supported me from the get go and are 2 of the sweetest women you will ever know. I'm sure Brook STILL thinks I'm nuts after going to dinner with me in SC LOL with some of my pals after classes...I'm sure she thought a mini-tornado had passed thru town. And sweetie-pie Michele who I am sooo gonna visit for a crafty weekend in Orlando while I visit Mickey Mouse. And Shelby who is my country music pal in Texas..oh the trouble we could get into if we lived closer...but I'm coming to the San Antonio Rodeo this year I swear Shelby!! And Anary who is the bestest & sweetest of friends, always thinking of me & keeping me in good supply of zebra-themed goodies! And poor Melanie who was stuck in the car with me for 24 hours (12 hrs each way to Michigan) last year for a retreat...Melanie is beautifully quiet, very UNLIKE me and I bet she was sooo ready to get outta my car ahahahah...BUT we did have lots of laughs! And there's Marti...Smurfette..who lives 20 mins away...we are both Tauruses yet we get along just so well, who knew huh? UNLESS she's waking me up at 3 am at CHA to BLOW DRY her hair cuz she's a freak LOL! Jenn & Dana I still am waiting to meet and hope to try this year *and Ruby who is in the UK who was with us too*...I know they are waiting on bated breath right? heehee I love all these girls and I THANK THEM for everything!!!

So take a minute to stop by their blogs, holler hello or just see their beautiful work.

The newest gals on my DT start in January but I want to say a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to them & we are so happy to have them join us at the CMC Family!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Hi
everyone! So today I guess I'm the hostess with the mostess LOL! Not sure I have the "mostess" part down but I'm trying. Spent a good portion of my time at the vet's yesterday with some of my sick cats...one with a bladder infection, one with an eye infection & one with a cold..oy vey! That's the bundle of fun you get when you have 8 animals, so I'm a bit thrown off my schedule & frazzled but I'm working to get back on track LOL. BUT I have a peaceful, calming holiday card for you today! And make sure to read the details of the hop to WIN ok! I'll be back on Saturday with a new post for ya too, so check back! ~hugs, Suzanne

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Happy Holidays from everyone at the Blog Hop for Sean &
Regina! Thank you for playing along in
our December blog hop! The Blog Hop with Sean & Regina features Gina
K. Designs stamps only for our monthly blog hops!

This month,
we are featuring the “12 Days of Christmas”.
Each blog hop designer will be hosting a day from December 13 – December
24 that will feature Christmas/Holiday cards from a Gina K. Designs stamp
set. A list of blog hop designers are
listed in this post with the day they will be hosting. You are invited to take part in each of the
twelve days. Subscribe and comment on the hop designer’s blog hop for the day
and at the end, the person who has completed the entire twelve days will win a
wonderful GINA K. DESIGNS PRIZE PACK!

OUR BLOG HOP PRIZE!

A Gina K. Designs
Prize Pack including:

Gina
K. Designs stamp set

Gina
K. Designs Pure Luxury card stock

Gina
K. Designs pattern paper

Brads

Ribbon

Embellishments

This card uses one of the newest Gina K sets called "Sentimental Holidays". I have been wanting to do an all white holiday card for awhile...they are soooo DARN hard to photograph though. I may re-take pics outside tomorrow so you can see the glitter and shine on this better. Some of the layers were spritzed with Maya Road Spritz in Sparkle. I embossed with a CB folder "D'vine Swirls". The tree die is from La La Land Crafts and I coated each tree branch with tacky glue and then DecoArt Glamour Dust for sparkle.

The sentiment and dove were stamped in Silver Metallic ink. The oval background (Marianne Designs die) and sentiment mat (Spellbinders) were cut from Vellum for a sheer look and then I put Stickles around the sentiment and on the dove. By layering with my pop-dots I created lots of texture so that each white layer pops from the next. A few Bella Baubles in pearl finish it all off.

LET'S GET HOPPING.....

Now it is your turn to blog hop with all of
our friends!

The rules are simple:

Visit each
participating blog on the list below from December 13 – December 24.

Leave a comment
for the blog host designer.

Become a
follower of each participating blog.

If
you follow rules 1 – 3, you will be eligible to win the grand prize of a Gina
K. Designs Prize Pack.At
the end of the hop, a random winner will be chosen for the Blog Hop Grand Prize
using comments and followers from each blog. We will be posting the winner
a day or so after the holidays!

The blog hop
designer this month and the designated date they are hosting are as follows:

Monday, December 17, 2012

Happy Monday to you all! Only one more week before Christmas….you all ready? I’m not sure I’m ever 100% ready for anything these days LOL…I always seem to be a step behind BUT I did get Christmas cards out & all my shopping done. I don’t send many handmade cards…GASP…I make photo cards on SnapFish. I decided 2 years ago that I was stressing myself out WAYYYY too much and it just wasn’t worth it. So I send about 10 handmade cards including to my mom & sister or they’ll whine LOL and that’s it. It has relieved a lot of time and stress for me and was so worth it. I also don’t scrapbook that much…I do photo books on SnapFish as well for family vacations, special events and one big year-long book that I give as gifts as well. They are easy to make, fun and are beautiful to have on hand…and with online coupons you can get 2 free with purchase of 1 OR save 55% which is a steal with free shipping. Every year I reduce the holiday stress a bit more and don’t push myself as hard with everything…makes me a happier person you know. I used to do a TON of baking but realized NO ONE ate much…so now I just make some fudge and some of our fave cookies but I don’t go over board. If every gift doesn’t get wrapped perfectly I don’t freak…I just stock up on beautiful gift bags and tissue paper and call it a day. I prefer to spend the extra time with my family really enjoying the month…those are the things we all remember you know. YES I am a Christmas tree freak but even this year I only did 9 trees instead of 12 because I knew I wasn’t 100% and couldn’t get it all done the way I wanted….so I did 9 and I’m perfectly happy with them all! And if I can’t figure out the perfect gift well then I’ll just choose a gift card…not the most original but HEY picking out your own gift is sometimes a FABULOUS gift KWIM…I sure like gift cards LOL So I hope you have a chance to take it easy this season as well. We have slowed down a bit, watched some holiday movies, drank hot cocoa with extra whipped cream, walked around our neighborhood with dogs and teens to see the holiday lights, cooked dinner together, decorated together and just enjoyed what the HOLIDAY SEASON really means…FAMILY, LOVE, FUN, FRIENDS, LAUGHTER, JOY AND HAPPINESS…that is what I wish for all of you too!

Slideshow of Decorations at my house…I didn’t get pics of everything but again that is something I refuse to stress about LOL! (click here if you get blog by email to see)

NewsBitz:-Today kicks off Challenge #3 which is a fun Seek-n-Find Picture for the Holiday Bash at CMC…to see it click HERE! Remember everyone can join in the fun, all challenges can be entered until Jan 4th, so you have plenty of time to participate. And with each challenge you complete you get a chance to win a NEW Silhouette Cameo and other prizes…check out the PRIZES…whoowhee there are so many great ones.And you can check our charity fundraiser HERE as well…it’s a great cause and gets you some more chances to win! So hop on over..what are you waiting for..its ALL ABOUT FUN!!

I hear y'all singing...Baby, its cooooolllldddd outside....I love that song especially cuz' it reminds me of my fave movie "ELF" LOL! Yup today I have another Stamping Bella…I can’t help myself, I love them LOL! AND guess what? SCACD has them on SALE this week HERE…15% off whoohooo! So go buy a few…you know you want to…you know you NEED at least one right? Ahahahaha trust me I buy and am enabled as much as I enable y’all They are too much fun to color and I HAD to use this one “Quinn & Her Boots”..I love that name Quinn…if I had another kid (which I am sooo NOT) I’d use that name!

Twice in a row I used NO patterned paper…oh my…I’m on a roll and darn it I have a TON of paper to use too heehee! I love pinks & grays together and I don’t use them often enough so I paired the two here. That’s PTI cardstock in silver shimmer which embosses beautifully with a CB folder. (the other color is Melon Berry) The decorative corners were done with an SCACD die called “Garden Corners”. The snowflakes were done with a Marianne Design’s die and then smothered them with stardust Stickles LOL. Ribbons were tied with a Bow Easy and then I used my fave MS Snow Glitter at her feet. I put down a line of Tacky Glue along the sides of the image and on the sentiment and added DecoArt’s Glamour Dust..I also added it for snowflakes around the image (love, love me some Glamour Dust)

I colored with Copics R22,R20,R11,R0000 / C5,C3,C1,C00 / E11,E00, E59,E31,E50. Then the blue was done with my Caran-Dache Neo Colors, I used these in past art classes & forgot how much I loved them. They are expensive yes but they work so beautifully…you can smudge them with your fingers, leave them as is or use water with them. I used my Tim Holtz waterbrush to blend out the blue a bit around the image..I love the vivid color and then that you can blend them out softly and yes I used them on my Cryogen Iridescent cs. I used Doodlebug Flock on her hat and boot trims and Stickles on her coat trim.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Happy Weekend everyone! A quick post from me today because we have a special Blog Hop and I’m sure they don’t want me all blabbering like normal heehee! But a few things I want to say before I go….prayers to those families in CT that suffered a TERRIBLE tragedy that no one, nowhere should EVER have to go through. As a parent my heart breaks for them especially at this time of year. Senseless and heartless to kill so many young children…babies really for no reason at all. Makes me sick inside and my biggest holiday wish is for healing, for those that are hurting this time of year and for our country so that things like this become NOT the norm but something that rarely if every happens. That is my true wish for 2013…peace on Earth…may it somehow happen in some capacity I do pray.

Also, I will have all my tree pics up on Monday for you all including all my decorations ok And don’t forget about the CMC Holiday Bash going on now thru Jan 4th…many ways to play, many great prizes to win and all are welcome to join in so get yourselves on over there….we’re waiting for you!!!

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TouchTwin & MarkerPop Blog Hop

Welcome to the MarkerPOP! & Shinhan Touch Twin marker blog hop! Our teams are joining today to bring you a fun filled hop featuring a variety of stamps carried at the MarkerPOP! store that have been colored with Touch Twin markers which are available at MarkerPOP!.

The hop starts today and will be open until December 19th. Enter by commenting on all the blogs in the hop (see blog list below)--You could win a set of 6 or a set of 12 TouchTwin markers...whoot!

So lucky me got to color up this awesomeStamping Bella stamp “Uptown Girl Felicity & Blair” from MarkerPop! I just love these girls and I thought this pair would be awesome for a New Year’s card for a special friend of mine! Aren’t they just too fun? I love using them & coloring them…I have a ton of the older Stamping Bella images (the smaller ones) from years ago but I adore these bigger gals I didn’t use any patterned paper…shocker I know…just cardstock in teal, violet & black. I added a black tulle ruffle to the edge of the image with Scor-Tape, sentiment is from PTI and the stars are with the Memory Box die “Starry Wreath”. I cut the wreath in half and used one half to surround the sentiment, I cut the other half into pieces and made photo-corners for my image. Then I added black pearls to some of the stars and in the corners for more detail…I’m big on details LOL..the more I can fit in without cluttering the better as I like my cards to have lots of little layers that you notice more the longer you look KWIM.

I added Stardust Stickles to the blue dress, the black sweater and around the image for more fun sparkle. Diamond Glaze was added to the champagne bottle, glasses and cupcakes for shine.

I of course colored with Shinhan TouchTwin markers and the colors are listed above. If you haven’t tried them, or are on the fence about them…well I have to say I LOVE using them, love the ink, love the brush nib and the way they flow/blend. I use them in conjunction with my Copics most days …yes they work together well and easily. So if you have other alcohol markers you can add TouchTwins in with your collection…if you have NO alcohol markers yet then check out the TouchTwins HERE ok! We have a TouchTwin Group at CMC that is full of resources and projects as well to help you along the way…share the love I say

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Happy Thursday friends….are you counting down?THERE ARE ONLY 12 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS…OMGOSHHHHH YIKES!! ACK! I hate having the days thrown at me like that ahahaha as it makes me feel rushed, behind, frazzled and nervous LOL. My inner Grinch can come out when I have to go shop during the holidays…I am a pre-naturally nice person, laid back & easy going…BUT holiday shoppers and me do NOT get along well. I have 90% of my shopping done but I have to get all those last minute things…gift cards, stocking stuffers, candy and baking goodies. I’m the person standing in the store with a LOST look on her face, all the people make me nervous and make me forget what I’m there for…ugh…I hate crowds of people rushing around and PUSHING ME…DO NOT PUSH ME when you are shopping. And forget about driving in Northern VA…its NUTTERS and DANGEROUS out there most of the time anyhow but forget-about-it during the holidays. I’m gonna gift myself with those sticky-pad notes for cars…you know…when someone parks too close to you or crooked you SMACK their car with a “STUPID PARKer” post it note. Or if the car takes 2 parking spaces you smack them with a “GREEDY GRINCH PARKer” post it note….ahahahahaha…I bought myself some yes I did and YES I will be smacking them all over the place trust me (don’t worry they are meant for vehicles so they don’t harm anything, its like a parking ticket). A girl’s gotta have some fun while out shopping yes?!! Which reminds me that we got a parking ticket in DC this past weekend…WHAT??? My husband has worked in DC for 19 years and I worked there for a few years as well so we know how to park, where to park, the rules & etc. Sooooo apparently we parked in a zone that was “NO PARK” until 10 pm…and we parked there at 9:57 pm…ARE YOU KIDDING ME…SERIOUSLY….a $25 fine for 3 FRIGGIN MINUTES. I swear if I’d seen that parking meter person I would probably have gotten arrested for the use of my mouth…my mouth can sometimes be seen as a deadly weapon LOL (at least according to my husband that is) I guess the city needed my $25 on a night where there were NO people on that particular street for their coffers. UGH I tell you city driving is for the birds sometimes…take your life into your own hands, risk injury to yourself and vehicle AND have to deal with the morons that are driving like nutters and NOW the friggin parking meter patrol people too. Well Merry Christmas to you too Parking Meter Person bwahahahahaha…guess Santa wasn’t feeling very friendly that night..next time I’ll MAKE SURE to drive around the block to knock off those 3 minutes. UGH! I shall stick a GRINCH sticker on the parking meter person in my mind to give myself a laugh on it all! And this is why I want to barricade myself in my home during the holidays like a big, hermit-like bear watching Elf and Hallmark Holiday movies…eating candy, cookies and hot cocoa enjoying MY TREES and decorations LOL BTW, I have to edit my holiday photos so I will have the slideshow up on Saturday of my decorations for you all…sorry. But I’ll share a sneak of one tree below:

Our almost 12 ft live Family Room tree decorated with ornaments that are our family faves. So I have vintage Coca-Cola ornaments, the kid’s first baby shoes, their ornaments I pick out for them each year as a gift, doggie ornaments and such! It’s a Christmas Tree full of meaning for our family!

NewsBitz:

Don’t forget about the CMC Holiday Bash! There are some fun challenges going on right now with the chance to win some absolute fabulous prizes..every challenge you do gets you a chance to win the Silhouette Cameo as well! Everyone is welcome to join in AND make sure to check out the Charity we are sponsoring this year too, every $3 donation gets you entered for the Cameo and other prizes! Lots of ways to win and lots of fun to be had. YOU HAVE UNTIL JAN 4th TO ENTER ALL CHALLENGES!!! So goooo play,have fun…win & come see what all the excitement is about!

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What? Holiday Dress Code??

Today I’m sharing probably one of my fave holiday cards I’ve made this season. Why? Well because I love Saturated Canary images and she was just FUN FUN FUN to color…I had no big to-do list, I had Christmas music playing and it was just me coloring…laid-back fun! This cutie-pop is called “Ugly Christmas Sweater” from Saturated Canary and she’s a digi image. If you haven’t tried a digi yet or are intimidated by the images and the coloring…DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU!! Part of crafting and art is having fun and trying new things…when you stop trying new things and let fear stop you from things life just isn’t as much fun. So try a digi, color your heart away and enjoy the process of it…who cares if its not perfect, an image colored with passion & love shows. So GO HAVE FUN…that’s an order…FROM ME…LOL!

I used some papers from last year from Teresa Collins called “Christmas Home”…I love the graphic, modern look of these papers, perfect for my image! I distressed the edges of my papers with my Zutter Distress machine--just ONE of my fave tools to use everyday. The swirls are done with two different dies…the black swirl is a Memory Box die called “Amira Flourish” (cut into 2) and the red swirl was done with a Marianne Designs die. I added a sentiment that comes with the image and some buttons tied off with Baker’s Twine (I love love me some twine)!

She got colored with both Copics & TouchTwin (TT) markers. To make my reds darker and shadows darker I used W7 and W3. I always color everything first THEN I go back and add my darker shadows…ink dries lighter so I like to add more color at the end to get the level of contrast I want. (Hair: TT-BR92,TT-BR93,E35,E31,E50 / C9,C5,C3,C1 / R29,R24,R22,R20,W7,W3 / TT-Y41,YG67,G20,YG03 / E11,E00,R20) I added some Stickles to her tree on her sweater, candy cane bag and around the image like sparkles. My fave Diamond Glaze is on her glasses and shoes…why Diamond Glaze…well of all the glazes I like the weight of this one, it stays where I put it and doesn’t go all runny on me KWIM.

Ok that’s it from me until Saturday! Hop over here this weekend to see a new Stamping Bella project and all my holiday decoration pictures!! Have a great week!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Happy Tuesday everyone & Happy Holidays & Happy Hanukkah to those that celebrate…I think I got everything yes? LOL! I hope you had a wonderful weekend…I know I did but I’m still recovering a bit I think from all the fun & excitement mixed with real life GOT-TO-DO-LISTS right now hahahaha. I’m asking Santa for a personal assistant…its not too much to ask don’tcha think and I could really use one! Not sure how you wrap one of them but I’ll take one any ole way! We had a great weekend staying in National Harbor at the Gaylord Resort…we had two rooms that adjoined cuz’ now that we have teens and one is really TALL LOL we have to get 2 rooms most of the time unless it’s a suites hotel. The ICE show of “Shrek the Halls” was fantastic…colder than you-know-what…but probably my favorite of them all in the past 4 years that we’ve gone. Then we went and ate at “Ketchup” because we are all ketchup freaks LOL and yup the best part is the Trio of Fries and 7 different ketchups (my fave is Coca-Cola ketchup go figure right hahahaha). On Saturday we just did some shopping and sight-seeing and then headed into DC to see the National Christmas tree and the windows at Macy’s (loved the windows this year as they were based on DC sights). I have a photo slideshow below of some of our travels & adventures for you. Then Sunday we went to the Redskins vs Ravens football game…it was COLD and RAINY…hmmm seems to be a repeating pattern for me whenever I go LOL. But we had tickets right in the endzone and we had a BLAST. We had some great people around us and the Redskins vs Ravens rivalry is really friendly since we don’t play in same division and we had Ravens fans sprinkled around us including Alexa. And MAN WHAT A NAILBITER OF A GAME OMGOSH….I literally went from screaming, to laughing, to crying, to jumping up with excitement to almost puking from nervousness LOL. If you saw the game on TV well you know what I’m talking about…but the REDSKINS WON WHOOOOOOT in overtime. They tied it up in the last 2 mins of the game…almost impossible to do when you are 8 pts behind but we did it and it was AMAZING. The noise at FedEx field was NUTS…it was so loud and people were going CRAZY, it was unreal. This game was sold out so you have over 75,000 people who were mostly rooting for the ‘Skins and screaming OMGosh. I high-fived & hugged more people I did NOT know LOL but what a game, one for the memory books for sure! Truly one of the craziest best games we’ve ever been to. But I was ready for WARMTH and came home and got in my fuzzy-wuzzy jammies and turned on the fireplace & got my heated blanket out LOL. I think I might have been a frosty snowwoman at some point ugh. But a wonderful weekend of fun, food, memories with my family…you can’t ask more for that!

Slideshow:

NewsBitz:

-The 2nd Challenge is up at the CMC Holiday Bash!You have until Jan 4th to finish every challenge and there are a TON OF PRIZES to be won! And with each challenge you enter you get a chance to win the NEW Silhouette Cameo too! And please check out our charity this year as well…it’s a great cause!

Today I’m sharing a Christmas card I dreamed of this weekend LOL. Yes on occasion I have a dream about a creation and I’ll jot down what I remembered so I can use it as inspiration later. In my dream I remembered lots of creams and a soft aqua with a ton of snowy glitter! So I pulled out a favorite Lockhart stamp to use called “Snowy Tree with Birds”. SCACD has a gorgeous selection HERE of Lockhart stamps to choose from. I love the elegant look they give to your projects! And if you have never used them the Itty Bitty stamps are FANTASTIC to use on tags, envelopes & small cards…so much fun & so cute!

I used some older paper from DCWV “Linen Closet” that is some of my fave-of-all-time and distressed the edges a bit. I embossed my cream cs with a CB folder (holly leaves) and added some glitter as well. The frilly accents were made with the La Rue Flourish by Memory Box (see a great selection here). I love Memory Box dies because they cut so cleanly & they are so beautiful to use on your cards/projects. All that glitter…well I used tacky glue and painted it on my flourishes, around my main image, in the embossed cs, on the snowy parts of tree and on edges of card THEN added my FAVE DecoArt Glamour Dust. I love the diamond-glittery look it gives! Then I used Ranger Liquid Pearls in Bisque to add small pearls to the tree as well for more texture. The sheer ribbon is from PTI.

That’s it for me today….I hope you have a great day wherever you are! Today is chore & errand day for me and I have enough chores to get done to drown a person bwahahahaha! I will share pics of all my trees and decorations on Thursday with you ok? See you in a couple of days.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Happy TGI-Holiday-Friday to you!!! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday month so far. The family & I are off to National Harbor and Washington, DC for the weekend. We are staying at theGaylord Resort in National Harborand will be seeing the Dreamworks ICE show “Shrek the Halls”…it’s a family tradition for us to go every year and its FANTASTIC! If you’ve never been (its in Nashville, DC & Florida) you should make a trip sometime….sculptors from China come over & carve and color ice into life size sculptures that are out-of-this-world amazing. And yes its VERY COLD inside of there…you wear these lovely gigantic blue coats that make you look very large LOL. I will have lots of pics next week for ya hee hee. And then we always eat at “Ketchup” restaurant at the harbor…they have these awesome fries that come with all kinds of different ketchups, yummo-licious!

We are staying at the Gaylord and they have movies in the indoor pool and they are showing Elf tonight…so yes the Dean’s will be there hahahahaha! (My FAVE holiday movie) We got two adjoining rooms since the kids are now TEENs and my son does NOT fit on a rollaway bed anymore LOL. Then Saturday we will do some sight-seeing and shopping and head over to DC to see the Nat’l Christmas tree. Hopefully its not as cold as it was last year…brrrr! On Sunday we have endzone tickets to the Redskins vs. Ravens game….so yes I WILL be on TV and I WILL high-five RGIII when he comes out LOL…watch for the crazy lady in the endzone We are a ‘Skins fan first (minus Alexa who is Ravens fan only) and then the Ravens are our 2nd team…so this is going to be a tough game but a good one! Praying for no rain or super-cold temps but I have hand warmers…a whole box…and I shall stuff them in every pocket and in my boots hahahaha! So a fun holiday weekend for sure and YES I will be posting lots of pics on Facebook while I’m gone…I cannot help myself LOL!. We got all but one of the trees up so I will definitely share pics of them all next week…I only did 10 of the 12 this year…my body ran out of steam so I will finish my white tree in basement and be done.

Today is the DAY that the Holiday Bash at CMC kicks off! Everyone is welcome to join in and we have new challenges every week! You have until Jan 4th to do every challenge so plenty of time to play. This is my way of thanking all of you for supporting the CMC site, taking classes, enjoying the bookclub and other groups there at Color Me Creative. So just a month of fun and prizes for everyone! So enjoy and have fun!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

And the PRIZES…ohhhh the PRIZES are fabulous…so many wonderful ones! And each challenge you do you get entered to win a NEW Silhouette Cameo! WE also have a Charity Fundraiser going on HERE as we do each holiday…each $3 donation gets you an extra entry for the Cameo AND you support a great cause!

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My CMC DT has a fabulous holiday Blog Hop Today!!!

today and I hope you hop along (I’m the start of the hop).

If you leave comments along the way you will be entered to win one of these

ENTER the CHALLENGE AT CMC HERE…holiday cards with metallic elements (so stickles, smooch, color metallic colors like silver, gold or copper, etc)! And be entered for MORE fabulous prizes! So many ways to play & win!

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My Holiday Bash Project!

I am the start of the CMC Holiday Bash Blog Hop…full hop list is HERE along with all the challenge details and prizes and such! Leave a comment on each blog along the way to be entered for some fabulous prizes too!

I used this super sweet “Christmas Tilda with Cat” from the Little Christmas Collection at Magnolia-licious! We now have 6 cats (yes we adopted Winston lol) and 2 dogs so I love any image that has a cute animal in it! TheCMC Challenge is to add METALLIC accents to your Holiday cards/projects…so you can color metallic colors and/or add them with products & embellies. I colored my sign in silver colors and then added Stickles for a fun metallic look!

My papers are older from a few years ago (DoveCraft) but I love them…love the non-traditional colors…and love hot pink and black together too! I distressed my papers with my fave Zutter Distress Machine. I used some fun plastic-glittery snowflake embellies and buttons to add some wintery fun to the image. On her fuzzy-furry trim on her dress I used white Sparkly Fluff which I LOVE..just put some tacky glue down and sprinkle this stuff on…fun & fabulous! Some rhinestones and a pretty bow finish it off nicely!

That’s it for me…now I hope you join in on all the Holiday Fun at CMC…its nothing hard, just fun & games and lots of ways to win.

And please check out our charity…for only ONE $3 donation you will be helping a child out that needs it AND be entered to win a NEW SIlhouette Cameo machine (my fave tool of the moment)!! That’s the cost of one digi stamp and its for a GREAT CAUSE OK!!